Saturday, February 22, 2014

"Tot school" - a resource

Hey friends! I have been using this blog as a learning resource for several months and I really want to share it with you too! Have you heard of it? It's called 1+1+1=1.

The author of the blog is a mother and former school teacher. She uses the term "tot school" as a "focused time each day for the tot in your family, exposing early learning skills through fun play" (her words!). I loved this idea. Audrey is so intelligent and I'm always looking for new ways to engage her in learning and exploring new things. But, as a first time mom, I sometimes need outside inspiration! For me, this blog is a treasure trove of ideas and information on how to engage Audrey in fun ways that did not feel forced or like work.

There is soooo much information on the site, I can barely get into it here, but I'll show you a little bit of what I have been incorporating from it for Audrey.

We use the free alphabet printables every weekday to practice letters. Audrey has known her ABC's for a while now, but this is just good reinforcement and also teaches her what each letter sounds like, and words that start with that letter (again, some of these she knows, but not all of them). I print the sheets out and stick them in heavyweight sheet protectors and Audrey writes on them with dry erase markers, like the website suggests.

While she's coloring, I just say what the letter is and make the sound "G is for goat g-g-goat!" She just listens to it while she picks out colors to use and we move through the sheets, and then most of the time she will repeat it after me. I'm also starting to incorporate the shapes and numbers printables from the site too. Audrey knows her shapes pretty well, and sometimes she gets her numbers, but she doesn't take a great interest in them, so I'm hoping some of these fun resources will help.

We also use these dot markers (another suggestion from the site). Audrey loves these and it keeps things interesting if she gets bored with the markers after a few minutes.

We've also made some pretty fun sensory bins, and this site has so many amazing ideas for them, here! There are literally more sensory bin ideas than I could ever execute, but it's fun to look and do the ones I can! Honestly, I would kind of like to raid this woman's home for all of her amazing supplies! Haha.

Here's Audrey playing with her favorite sensory bin. She calls it her "oceans" bin. You can't really see what's in it from this picture, but it's full of blue and green marbles and glass beads, sea animals, rocks, shells, etc. She loves it! Sometimes we count the marbles, or sort them, or just have pretend play with the animals.

I'd really encourage you to check out this site for all it has to offer! I've barely touched the surface with all the resources and suggestions! There are even things for older kids too (up to kindergarten, I believe).

While we are at it, let me know if you have any favorite websites for getting your little one engaged in fun ways to learn and explore!

About Me

Living my dream of being a stay-at-home mom in Northern Virginia with my wonderful husband, our little girl, and our Chihuahua. I love being a mom, decorating, crafting, thrifting, diy-ing just about anything, antiquing, sewing, finding a good deal, refinishing furniture, hosting parties, and just creating! Stick around to see all of these things, and glimpses into our everyday life, too! Welcome! I hope you'll stick around!